White-Rodgers recalls Home Heating and Cooling Thermostats

More than one million thermostats sold in the United States and Canada since 2006 are being recalled because the batteries can leak and cause a fire.

The thermostats are made by White-Rodgers, but some have different brand names printed on the front, including ComfortSentry, DICO, Emerson, Frigidaire, Maytag, Nutone, Partners Choice, Rheem, Ruud, Unico, Water Furnace, Westinghouse and Zonefirst.

About 740,000 of the thermostats were sold in the United States and 403,000 were sold in Canada from January 2006 to December 2013 through hardware stores and heating and air conditioning companies.

There have been seven reports of burn damage to the thermostat, with two involving minor property damage, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. No injuries have been reported.

Recalled thermostats don’t have a battery icon on the left side of its blue lighted screen, the CPSC said. Customers should call White-Rodgers at 888-624-1901 or register at www.regcen.com/1f8recall/ .

Affected Products:

White-Rodgers 1F8x-04xx digital thermostats

Hazard identified:

The alkaline batteries used in the thermostat can leak onto the circuit board posing a fire hazard.

White-Rodgers has received seven reports (four of which were in Canada) of burn damage to the thermostat, including two (one of which was in Canada) involving minor property damage. No injuries have been reported.

Health Canada has received one consumer incident report of batteries damaging the thermostat. No injuries were reported.

Number sold:

Approximately 403,000 were sold in Canada and about 740,000 were sold in the United States.

Time period sold:

The recalled thermostats were sold from January 2006 through December 2013 in Canada and the United States.

Place of origin:

Manufactured in China.

What you should do:

Consumers should check thermostats for battery icon on the left side of the blue lighted screen, if the battery icon is not shown, contact White-Rodgers to receive a free repair or a replacement thermostat.

For more information, consumers can call White-Rodgers toll-free at 1-888-624-1901 from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the Emerson White Technologies’ website and click on “White-Rodgers 1F8x-04xx Thermostat Recall” for more information.

Please note that the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits recalled products from being redistributed, sold or even given away in Canada.

Health Canada would like to remind Canadians to report any health or safety incidents related to the use of this product or any other consumer product or cosmetic by filling out the Consumer Product Incident Report Form.